"What I found interesting was the closing -- when he says when we pray to God he judges us all - I don't know exactly what his words are but he says `we are all God's children.' I think that's great. I hope it applies to gays and lesbians in Russia as well," Pelosi said.

Putin signed a law earlier this year that bans public discussion of gay rights and relationships where children might hear it. Violators can be fined and, if they are foreigners, deported.

'Hey Putin'

There are others who took issue with Putin's view.

Hey Putin, next time you wanna write a letter to convince America about something, how about you skip saying we're not exceptional? #rude

The Russian president also annoyed some people by warning against military action without U.N. Security Council approval.

"Man who launched military action in Georgia and Chechnya without UN say-so says wars without it are illegal?" tweeted the journalist John Podhoretz.

A report commissioned by the European Union said that Georgia illegally started the war with Russia in 2008 but that the Russian response, which involved occupying large parts of Georgian territory, also violated international law.

The two wars between Russian forces and separatists in Chechnya are widely considered to be internal conflicts.

Putin, then the prime minister of Russia, struck a different tone in which he sought to explain Russia's military action.

"No government can stand idly by when terrorism strikes," he wrote. "It is the solemn duty of all governments to protect their citizens from danger."

"Not a word on UN or Pope or Int'l law," Philip Gourevitch, a staff writer at The New Yorker, commented about the 1999 article. (Putin mentions the pope in his op-ed this week as being among those opposed to a U.S. strike against Syria.)

"I almost wanted to vomit," he said. "I worry when someone who came up through the KGB tells us what is in our national interests and what is not. It really raises the question of how serious the Russian proposal is."

But plenty of people seemed to think Putin had scored points against Obama.

"I think it's sad to see him acting with more common sense and humanity than Obama," said Ashton Blazer.

"Putin made a compelling, though disingenuous, case against military strikes. Its effectiveness shows how badly Pres Obama was outmaneuvered," tweeted Marc Lamont Hill.

Power plays

Others saw it in less subtle terms.

"#Putin diplomatically serves it to Pres. Obama in the last paragraph. Can't believe the #nytimes ran this," wrote Mary F. Mueller.

For some people, the tension between the two presidents has become a spectacle in its own right.

"Putin plays his next move on our very own NYTimes. This is almost getting as good as Breaking Bad," wrote Twitter user @MiketheEye.